Muppet*Vision 3D (Walt Disney World)
Muppet*Vision 3D is an attraction found at Disney's Hollywood Studios, part of the Walt Disney World Resort. The attraction opened on May 16, 1991. The show is a 3-D film featuring Jim Henson's Muppets. Due to the use of Audio-Animatronics, a live full-bodied Muppet, and other similar effects, the show is sometimes referred to as Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 4-D. It was directed by Henson and written by Bill Prady. The show is also notable for being the final Muppets project to be released for Henson, as the ride opened after his death in 1990. Show Description Before being seated in the theater where the film is shown, the queue winds through "Muppet Labs," home of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker. The audience passes several office doors, all featuring outlandish job descriptions. Guests then see half of a motorbike protruding from the wall above, with a hole in the shape of Gonzo. Guests then enter a large room filled with Muppet "props" and boxes with comical and humorous labels. Above guests' heads are sets of three television monitors, in which several short snippets of comical adventures take place with the Muppet characters. This serves as the preshow. The audience is repeatedly reminded to take a pair of 3D glasses from several containers around the room before entering the theater, which is modeled after the theater depicted on The Muppet Show. Muppet*Vision 3D is one of only two Disney 3D attractions currently playing which actually calls their glasses "3D glasses"--It's Tough to Be a Bug utilizes "bug eyes," Star Tours: The Adventures Continue refers to them as "flight glasses," and Mickey's PhilharMagic calls them "opera glasses." However, the glasses are sometimes referred to as "3D Safety Goggles," foreshadowing the "dangerous" experiments guests will be visiting. Muppet*Vision 3D introduces Waldo C. Graphic, the world's first computer-generated Muppet, who also appears in The Jim Henson Hour. Waldo is "created" by Dr. Honeydew and Beaker during a demonstration of three-dimensional imagery, but proves uncontrollable and wreaks havoc throughout the remainder of the film, especially when the ending patriotic number by Sam the Eagle is reduced to shambles. Aside from the Muppets on-screen, there are also a number of in-theater Muppets, mostly Audio-Animatronic, that interact with the show. Statler & Waldorf heckle from a balcony near the screen, an orchestra of penguins rises into sight to perform, and the Swedish Chef "operates" the film projector from the booth above and behind the audience. Bean Bunny leaves the film at one point after being blamed for ruining several scenes (mainly Miss Piggy's), and Sweetums, who is a live full-bodied Muppet, comes out into the audience to search for him having already done so on screen. At one point in the show, there appears to be computerized bubbles blown, and real soap bubbles blow from the ceiling. At the end of the show Swedish Chef tries to destroy the now out of control Waldo, who has destroyed the film and is all alone on a blank screen, by firing a gun at him. After missing several times (shooting holes in the screen and even the theater wall), the Swedish Chef resorts to using a large cannon. This "blows up" the theater, leaving a (projected) hole in the main screen, as well as "revealing" some bricks and sheet rock throughout the main theater, revealing what's on the "other side" of the screen--guests at a Disney Park. Sources & External Links *Wikipedia *Official website Category:Attractions Category:Walt Disney World attractions Category:Disney's Hollywood Studios attractions Category:Shows Category:3D shows